Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari
Opening Statement…
“I was so happy for EJ Montgomery, I really thought he was the difference in the game. We needed one more big guy to do something and rebound down the stretch. We are still a work in progress, we are halfway up the hill. We knew Florida would come out and play. I thought we were tentative in the first half, I though Ashton took a step back , but the last seven or eight mintues he stepped back up and was the player he has been the last month.”
How much did PJ become the guy you want him to be in the second half… “He is building his own confidence and taking control of games and coaching players on the court. I have been waiting a year and a half for this.”
On taking all of those shots… ” We eneded up taking 21 in the game and we know we want to take between 21 and 23 three’s is what I would like them to shoot. The amazing thing is that they only took 19. Coming into the game, they were shooting on average 30 threes a game the last five games. “
Difference in the second half… “The press bothered us, it was as much my fault as theirs. When you look at it we eneded up trying to do a couple things and it was ugly. So we just tried to screen it and beat it on the bounce. I told them after that I didn’t have us as well prepared which put us on our heals to start the game.”
Freshman Guard Tyler Herro
On PJ Washington’s turn around during the second half… “He was big. You know, he was just being a leader. I think when we see a guy like PJ who has been here before, he works hard everyday in practice, us young guys can look up to him and just take his lead and follow his lead.”
On defending Locke and Allen… “I think coming in, we knew they were dangerous shooters. I think they shoot eight or nine through a game, each of them. We knew that they were going to get their shots up, just having a high hand, getting there early, and not allowing them to get going from the start. So, I think we did a good job on them.”
Freshman Guard Keldon Johnson
On what happened during the first half and shooting… “We just struggled during the first half, especially me. I feel like I was rushing a little bit. I just had to get settled down, calm down, and play basketball. That ‘s why I came out in the second half I got things going a little bit.”
On the late comeback… “We just had to dig down deep, come out, and get it done. We knew that we didn’t want to lose. We all had each other’s back. We just went out there, locked down defense and communicated.”
Florida Head Coach Mike White
On what he saw the last 15 minutes offensively… “They [Kentucky] made some adjustments. They switched a lot and we got a little stagnant. Their bigs did a terrific job of staying in front of the basketball, utilizing their length, both at the perimeter and at the rim. We had some that were right there that just didn’t go for us, the majority of our shots were contested. They were terrific defensively. We had a couple of very long dry spells, if I remember correctly, it just felt like we couldn’t score for a couple of days there. Couldn’t find a way. We were trying to generate different ways and we just couldn’t find a way to get it to go for us. Then I thought that it affected our defensive energy a little bit, gave up a dunk in our zone press, a couple kick ahead threes due to a lack of communication. They stepped up and made big shots, we helped them with a few mistakes. You can say “coach, we just made a few of them [mistakes],” but you can’t do that against a Top-10 team. We’ve got to be more accountable defensively. They were terrific defensively.”
On if he needed the bench late in the game because the team was worn out… “Yeah, we were fatigued down the stretch. I thought we played with a lot of energy, emotion, the place was rocking, and I rode those guys. We’re not the deepest team and I probably rode those guys too many minutes. I thought Jalen Hudson gave us good minutes, he was pretty good.”
